Q:
Dr. M,
I am happy to tell you I am going to celebrate my one year anniversary of getting my own
office this weekend. My year anniversary of opening my doors for business is April. I do
have a question for you, I need some words of wisdom or at least some advice. How do
you balance the personal life in all of this? I have my close friends and that is not a
problem, but trying to keep a relationship is. One or the other suffers. How does one do
it?
A:
Thanks for the e-mail and great news about your one year anniversary. As far as your
question there is but one answer .. you must find a way to switch off the business and turn
on the pleasure. I mean there is a time to work and a time to play. A relationship .. at least a
serious one .. includes a sharing and a strong feeling of support. If you found the right one
.. this will be a natural fit and little maintenance is necessary. Since there is very little
absolutes in the world .. one must tweak the relationship with give and takes and with more
togetherness there will be more cohesiveness.
So .. keep your friendships strong and give it your all when in the business mold but find
the switch to leave it in the office so you can find the time and energy to foster other
interests such as finding the right one. Also .. the person you wish to spend time with must
appreciate what you have studied and believe in. If there is little compromise here .. then
there is more than a tweaking going on and therefore the best advice is to move on.
One final thought .. if you have a history of bad personal relationships then the person in
the mirror may who to work on first. Go with the flow and ease up on expectations and let
a relationship simmer while it heats up. Being overly anxious and critical may be more then
necessary and wasteful energy. Give this some thought
Have a Great Day
Dr. M